News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-12-22
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL

The camera appears now to be quite
available at night A Bermuda photog-
rapher reports exquisite landscapes taken
by moonlight and even by starlight.
DR.. Kost, the State Geologist of
Florida, has found the remains of a
! number of mastodons and of an extinct
species of hyena near Cotton Plant, Fla
An English gardner has noticed roots
protruding from the stock end of Gu
cumbcr which had been immersed in
water. The fruits of the prickly pears,
which have the same botanical conforma-
ton, have been known to root in the
same manner, and the plant has been
propagated in this way.
The new Cairo bridge across the Ohio
River is to have two spans SIS feet each,
seven 40C feet each and three $50 feet
each; total length, 1870 feet. 1t will
be fifty-three feet above high water mark,
aud will cost So, 500, 600. 1t will take
two and half years to build it. 1t will
be the wonder of the West.
A most remarkable imitation of black
walnut has lately been manufactured
/ from poor pine, the quality and appear
ance of the article being such as to defy
detection except upon very close eXamina-
ton. To accomplish this, one part of
walnut peel extract is mixed with six
: parts Of Mater,-and with this solution
the; wood is coated When The material
/ is half dry, a solution of bichromate of
| potash with water is rubbed on it, and
the made walnut is ready for use.
A paper that resists the action of both
fire and water has, it is said, been re-
Gently invented in Germany by Herr
Ladewigg. The manufacture is accom-
plished by mixing twenty-five parts of
asbestos fiber with from twenty-five to
thirty parts of aluminium sulphate, and
the mixture is moistened with chloride
of zinc and thoroughly washed in water
1t is then treated with a solution of one
part of resin soap in eight to ten parts of
a solution of pure aluminium sulphatc,
after which it is manufactured into
paper like ordinary pulp.
A powder of pine needles is now pre-
pared in Germany, and is becoming pop
ular for use in baths. A half-pound or
pound of the powder is allowed to
digest in lukewarm water for few min
utes, when the bath is ready. The prin-
ciples extracted act upon the skin as a
tonic aud antispectic, and the baths are
prescribed for rheumatic complaints,
govt, certain skin diseases, and for in
MIGRATING the system generally. The
powder is also used for fumigations in
chest affections, ETC., or as an antispeptic
little may be placed on a hot shovel
and carried about the room.
The Bahamas, according to their Gov
ernor, Mr.. H A. Blake, lie mostly on the
eastward or windward edges of the Pa
hama banks, which cover AZ, 900 square
miles. They rise very abruptly from
depths varying from 500 fathoms on the
western, to 1000 on the eastern side,
and are indented by two submarine
gorges, 800 to !, GOO fathoms deep. The
islands are formed of coral-sand and
shells, consolidated into rock by the ac-
ton of rain water on the wcathered up-
per layers. There are three kinds of
soil, white, black and red, the first COM
posed Of calcareous sand, with a little
organic matter, and suitable for the
growth of vegetables when fertilizers are
used; the second formed of vegetable
mould, and very fertile; while the third,
most fertile of all, has a considerable
proportion of oxide of iron The indigo
nous timber has been destroyed on all but
four islands, which last retain large
tracts of pine forest. Some of the
islands spring directly from a depth of
over 5000 fathoms.